PANAJI
Voters above the age of 80 years and persons with more than 40 per cent disability will be allowed to cast ballot by postal vote, Chief Electoral Officer Kunal said on Friday.
The official on Friday chaired a meeting with representatives of all political parties in the State, during which he also said that in view of the looming spectre of Covid-19, polling booths had been capped at 1,000 voters in order to prevent overcrowding at the booths.
"In the coming election, persons with 40 percent disability and also for senior citizens who are 80 years of age or more there will be provision of postal ballot. All these provisions were explained to political parties and we requested them to appoint booth level agents for all the booths, so that for summary revision exercise there should be complete participation and there should be meaningful dialogue at the ground," Kunal said.
The meeting on Friday is the first meeting between poll authorities and representatives of political parties, marking the formal beginning of electoral preparation by the Goa Chief Electoral Office, which functions under the aegis of the Election Commission of India. The revision of electoral rolls will be carried out in the month of November, political parties were told, which in a way indicates that assembly polls, which are scheduled to be held in February next year, are unlikely to be pre-poned.
Kunal also said that special camps will be held in both the districts in the State for registration of disabled persons, who could then use government-issued disability certificates, to avail the postal ballot facility.
"Due to Covid they have decided to cap the number of voters at polling stations to 1,000, which means additional polling stations will be created," Goa Forward spokesperson Durgadas Kamat, who was present at the meeting, told reporters subsequently.
Congress leader Altinho Gomes, who represented his party at the all-party meeting called by the CEO also said that the poll authority had launched a special app 'Suvidha' which would be used as a single platform for application and grant of permissions for poll related activity.
